


Who hurt Roger Rabbit?

by secret170193



Category: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Genre: Eddie's still a bit of a grouch, Friendship mentioned - Freeform, Gen, Guilt Trip, Hurt/Comfort, No shipping mentioned, Post-Movie(s), like at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 17:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12215439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret170193/pseuds/secret170193
Summary: Post movie:After a small incident in his office, Eddie finds out something that makes him rethink his whole world. Turns out although he can't die (without Dip), Roger can feel pain.





	Who hurt Roger Rabbit?

It was another normal evening and Eddie Valiant of Valiant and Valiant private investigators was packing away his paperwork for the day. His chair was occupied by a grinning white rabbit toon kicking his legs where they wouldn’t touch the floor. Roger had been Eddie's friend since the Judge Doom incident, Roger would say the beginning of it while Eddie would say closer to the end, and had been his occasional unofficial assistant in some more recent cases, usually against Eddie's better judgement. 

Today though had been rather quiet and as a result the over active toon was starting to get a bit bored. He poked and prodded at things on Eddie’s desk whenever he wasn’t looking, knocking a few things over. Eddie tried to ignore most of it, well aware that paying attention to it would only cause it to get worse. He couldn’t help tensing whenever he heard something topple onto his desk. Finally the tapping became too much and he spun around with a glare.

“Roger!”

At that moment the rabbit jumped and dropped the glass of water that he’d lifted up, going rigid as it fell on its side and washed a small tidal wave over Eddie's side and onto Teddy’s dusty desk. Roger gulped, instantly aware he’d done wrong. Eddie fumed, still over protective of his dead brothers possessions. He lunged forwards towards Roger.

“That’s it!”

Roger leapt from the seat, yelping as he felt Eddie's vice like grip close around the base of his ears. Eddie held Roger up at eye level, looking quite ready to hit him. Roger winced, struggling slightly as he hung a few feet off the floor. 

“Ow! I-I'm sorry, Eddie! I didn't mean to! Ngh.. y-you know I wouldn't..-”

Eddie gave Roger a slight shake, looking angry and now more than slightly annoyed. 

“Stop that!”

Roger went still for a moment, eyes wide as he honestly looked baffled.

“S-stop what, Eddie? Spilling water? B-because I swear I won’t do it again!”

Eddie huffed, glaring a bit. His attitude had improved a bit over time but he still held the reputation for grumpiest PI, though now the only PI that dealt with toons.

“Not that, you moron! Stop all that ‘ow’ and stuff, we both know it doesn’t hurt you!”

Roger froze for a moment, refusing to meet Eddie’s eyes.

“Well um... r-right! It doesn’t hurt! I'm a toon.”

Eddie gave Roger a suspicious look, not used to the rabbit lying to him but definitely aware of how obvious lying looked on toons.

“Roger, what aren’t you telling me?”

Roger's eyes went wide again as he realised he couldn’t pull the wool over Eddie's. He closed his mouth tight and shook his head. Eddie frowned, feeling a slight sensation of betrayal. Roger was usually such a loudmouth that whether he knew it or not he ended up telling Eddie everything. Eddie tightened his grip on Rogers ears, causing Roger to curl in on himself a bit.

“You’d better tell me what you’re hiding or so help me...”

Roger finally cracked, gulping as he looked from side to side as though to check nobody else was listening in. He lowered his voice to a near whisper and looked Eddie in the eyes.

“Okay, Eddie, I’ll tell you, because it’s you but p-p-p-please don’t tell anyone I told you...?”

Eddie softened his glare a little, figuring Roger must be pretty serious about this if he was being so cautious. 

“Okay fine, out with it.”

Roger sighed, holding his hands out in surrender.

“I lied...”

Eddie stared at Roger for a long moment, looking very wary.

“Lied about what exactly?”

Roger pointed up at his ears with a gloved finger. 

“Pain. I don’t know if the other toons feel it but..”

Eddie felt his stomach do a little twist, hoping this was some kind of sick joke.

“Roger, the whole point of having toons like you in films where they drop stuff on you is that you don’t feel it.”

Roger shook his head as best he could in Eddie's grip.

“Toons can’t /die/. But things like frying pans and car crashes and getting hit with a fridge...”

Eddie took a moment or two to process what Roger was telling him.

“If you feel pain then why don’t you show it or say so?”

Roger looked at Eddie in legitimate concern.

“But Eddie, if people thought it hurt then they wouldn’t laugh and have fun! They’d never be able to watch a cartoon again!”

That was when Eddie knew that Roger was being serious. If there was one thing the rabbit couldn’t stand it was not being able to make people feel good about themselves, not being able to cause laughter. He thought back through all the times he’d seen Roger get hit, get knocked out, get strangled or crushed, and suddenly that twist in his stomach became more of a rock.

“So that time you were hitting yourself with plates..?”

Roger gave a sheepish smile.

“I couldn’t not, Eddie, they were enjoying it...”

“That time Judge Doom had you by the neck?”

Roger’s grin faded a bit although he was clearly trying to remain cheerful for Eddie.

“That was p-p-pretty scary...”

Eddie looked Roger in the eyes, guilt hidden well enough that the toon wouldn’t see it. 

“What about that time I hid you in the sink?”

Roger seemed to perk up again, remembering Eddie saving him from the Weasels.

“Well I guess it was a bit like drowning over and over b-but you saved me!”

Eddie lowered Roger back onto the chair, staring vacantly for a few long seconds. He'd not only let Roger, the kindest most soft hearted toon he knew, get hurt multiple times, he’d hurt him many times himself from ear pulling to practically waterboarding the rabbit. Roger's grin faded again, giving Eddie a nervous look of worry at how the man had been staring into the distance for the last thirty seconds.

“Um...you okay there, Eddie?”

Eddie snapped out of his thoughts, suddenly pulling Roger into a gentle hug, which surprised the concerned rabbit.

“I’m sorry Roger, I won’t hurt you again.”

Roger hugged Eddie back, grinning as he relished in the rare moment of compassion he got from his friend.

“It’s okay, Eddie, you didn’t know.”


End file.
